BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

My Monster Dumper Truck by Steve Smallman, illustrated by Joelle Dreidemy (Little Tiger; €13.03 HB) is a big book featuring big machines.

Playtime in the sandpit becomes a battle of imagination as two small boys pit their dumpster truck and tractor against one another. With flaps to lift, holes to look through, pull-out spreads and, of course, a friendly ending, this will fire the imagination of small boys aged four and upwards.

Banana Skin Chaos by Lilli L’Arronge (Bloomsbury; €7.10) begins quietly with a boy throwing his banana peel on to the pavement. When his big sister points out the chaos this can cause, the catastrophes increase page by page until the whole street is eventually filled with individual disasters. A fun read for Age six and upwards.

The Language of Cat by Rachel Rooney (Frances Lincoln; €7.10) is a collection of poems for young verse-lovers.

Quirky, funny and thought-provoking, this is an entertaining little book to dip into on holidays. Age nine and upwards.

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Paul Dowswell (Bloomsbury; €8.35). On his way to Prague to be apprenticed to his Uncle Anselmus, alchemist and physician to the to the melancholy Emperor Rudolph II, orphan Lukas Leclercq is attacked and robbed, along with another young traveller, Etienne.

The two boys form a friendship and eventually get to Prague, a bustling city where Jews, Muslims and Christians co-exist peacefully.

While Lukas goes to live in the Emperor’s castle, Etienne falls in with a bad lot who set their sights on Lukas’s access to the castle and to the Emperor’s precious Cabinet of Curiosities.

All the facets of intrigue are skilfully brought together in this superbly written book.

A captivating, unputdownable read for age 14 to adult.